By Dianne Gallagher | CNN
The NBA has been asked to suspend Gary Gilbert, a part-owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, over threatening social media messages he sent to a pro-Palestinian group promoting a rally for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) requested a meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to discuss the messages sent from Gilbert’s social media accounts.
Gilbert is an Academy Award nominated film producer and minority-owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. His brother, Dan, is majority owner of the team.
“We are requesting a meeting with you to discuss the ways that you and your team will ensure that hate and bigotry against our community finds no home in the NBA,” Abed Ayoub, executive director of the anti-discrimination organization, wrote in a letter to the commissioner and obtained by CNN.
“We demand that [Gary] Gilbert be immediately suspended from all NBA arenas for the safety of Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim fans.”
Last week, J-Town Action and Solidarity, a grassroots organization based in the Little Tokyo community of Los Angeles, shared screengrabs of direct messages sent from Gary Gilbert’s Instagram account.
The messages were in response to a post encouraging people to show up outside the November 8 screening of “Bearing Witness” – a film that features graphic footage of the deadly October 7 Hamas attack on Israel – at the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance.
The footage has previously been released by Israel’s Defense Forces.
According to the screengrab, Gilbert wrote, “We will be armed and ready for you cowardly punks this Wednesday” and “We’re armed and ready for you punks. We don’t have an ounce of fear.”
He then added, “Please add this to your story, I would be honored!”
Gilbert did not attend the November 8 film screening and has since made his social media accounts private.
In a statement shared with CNN Monday, Gilbert acknowledged he wrote the…
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